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Abundance and Banality Jeff Koons at the Palace of Versailles

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Abundance and Banality Jeff Koons at the Palace of Versailles Graduate Journal of Visual and Material Culture Issue 4 | 2011 Abundance and Banality Jeff Koons at the Palace of Versailles Jailee Rychen Abstract In September of 2008 seventeen works by Jeff Koons, representing the full range of his 30-year career, took over the grounds and interior of one of France’s most sacred historical sites: the Palace of Versailles. In a seemingly discordant pairing of 18th century luxury and abundance with the commercial and pop imagery of a contemporary art superstar, the exhibition questions the value and meaning of exhibiting contemporary art in a site of historical significance. This paper will argue that the synthesis of contemporary art and historical setting, in fact, reconstitutes a new space where historical site and contemporary art are inevitably entwined, and that the exhibition of Koons’ work at the Palace of Versailles creates a new visual environment that questions our notions of historic authenticity and contemporary cultural production. Keywords Jeff Koons, Palace of Versailles, historic authenticity, contemporary art, Laurent Le Bon I n September of 2008, seventeen works by Jeff Koons, representing the full range of his 30 year career, took over the grounds and interior of one of France’s most sacred historical sites: the Palace of Versailles. In a seemingly discordant pairing of 18th century luxury and abundance with the commercial and pop imagery of a contemporary art superstar, the exhibition was the first comprehensive exhibition of Koons’ work in France. Laurent Le Bon, the curator of the exhibition, was also the man behind the rychen | abundance and banality 1 Graduate Journal of Visual and Material Culture Issue 4 | 2011 program designed to bring contemporary art to the Palace of Versailles for a three-month period each year. Koons was the first artist chosen to exhibit at the palace for the program. Le Bon stated that the choice to exhibit works by Koons was obvious “because no French public institution had ever exhibited his work, and Versailles was a perfect environment for the presentation of his sculptures, technical tours de force that sometimes require thousands of hours of work.”1 He, along with Jean-Jacques Aillagon, the chairman of Versailles, believed that if any contemporary artist is worthy of the honor of displaying his works in the same space that was the residence of one of France’s most decadent, influential and powerful kings, it is Jeff Koons. The staggering prices that his work grabs at auction, along with the long list of high profile art collectors that are in possession of his work, only begin to describe Koons’ status as the unofficial “king of the art market.” His works, because of their value and Koons’ notoriety, may be worthy of display in a French palace, but why would Versailles, a historical site that welcomes 5 million tourists a year to the palace and 10 million a year to the gardens, want to partner itself with a contemporary artist whose works hold such a precarious position according to art critics? Koons’ work has been called kitsch, commercial and pornographic. What relation does his work have with the décor and history of Versailles? Aillagon describes the act of placing Koons’ work within the palace as “an Fig. 1 Koons, Jeff, Balloon optimistic act which singles out the unflagging youthfulness and the Dog, 1995-2000, François fathomless wealth of the glorious succession of apartments, Pinault Foundation, Studio Jeff Koons. Image source. galleries, salons, copes, pools and prospects that all make Versailles what it is.”2 Aillagon continues by stating that Versailles is a “cultural object” that must remain relevant and vital in today’s world. According to Aillagon’s rationale, staging a retrospective of Jeff Koons is a means to revitalize a historical site to reflect modern and contemporary artistic trends. Above all, Aillagon claims that an exhibition such as this creates a needed dialogue between past and present. Seeing Koons’ work placed in such a monumental site is intriguing. The enormous catalogue of the exhibition is, aside from the ability to transport oneself back to the latter months of 2008, the closest one can come to fully experiencing the impact of Koons’ work at Versailles. The catalogue is full of wonderfully clear images of the sculptures in situ. The images are undoubtedly seductive; the ornate ceiling decoration and elaborate textures of the palace tapestries are mirrored in the reflective surfaces of Koons’ Balloon Dog (Fig. 1), placed in the Hercules Salon, and Hanging Heart (Red/Gold) (Fig. 2) in the alcove of the Staircase of the Queen. It is Fig. 2 Koons, Jeff, Hanging Heart, 1995- 2000, François Pinault Foundation, Studio Jeff Koons. Image source. rychen | abundance and banality 2 Graduate Journal of Visual and Material Culture Issue 4 | 2011 arresting to see the piece Rabbit (Fig. 3), one of Koons’ most iconic works, juxtaposed against the ornate sculptures and marble accents of the Abundance Salon. However, there are deeper implications in placing contemporary art in such an established historical setting. Versailles is a palace, not an art museum. The difference between choosing to display Koons’ work in a prestigious art museum and within the walls of Versailles is that the traditional white walls of a Fig. 3 Koons, Jeff, Rabbit, gallery space are meant to minimize context. A contemporary art 1995-2000, François Pinault museum, on the whole, strives to provide a neutral space for the Foundation, Studio Jeff Koons. viewing and contemplation of artwork without any interference or Image source. distraction. Versailles is the antithesis of a neutral space. Not only is the interior and exterior of the palace saturated with visual movement and constant textural noise, but the rich historical significance of the Palace is omnipresent. Koons states in the exhibition catalogue how he views the setting of Versailles for his work: “I was very interested in the interactions. In a sense, it is a re-contextualization of both my work and Versailles itself. Bringing them together for me changes both, so I didn’t feel any desire to change or manipulate Versailles in some way.”3 There exists an obvious contradiction in Koons’ statement when he states that the exhibition “re-contextualizes” and “changes” both his work and Versailles but yet he had no intention of manipulating the historical context and setting of the Palace. Just as the Palace of Versailles as a setting is far from neutral, can Koons’ work remain neutral towards its surroundings? Is it possible, in such an exhibition, to separate and distinguish the visual and conceptual reception of the historical setting of Versailles from the reception of Koons’ contemporary art pieces? The following analysis will argue the opposite: that the interaction, as Koons refers to it, between his work and the Palace of Versailles in fact reconstitutes a new space where historical site and contemporary art are inevitably entwined. In a state of mutual manipulation, the exhibition becomes a mediated platform between the historical and the contemporary that ultimately alters the viewer’s understanding of both. No longer existing as two separate visual entities, the Palace and the artwork create a new visual environment that questions our notions of historical authenticity and contemporary cultural production. To demonstrate this, it is important to discuss in more detail the intended interactive space created within the exhibition, which involves looking more closely at the curatorial strategy employed by the curators. By developing an understanding of how the works are rychen | abundance and banality 3 Graduate Journal of Visual and Material Culture Issue 4 | 2011 received in their new environment, it is possible to get a better understanding of what takes place within the exhibition and how the historical and the contemporary negotiate a new visual space. Another important element of this analysis will be to examine critical analysis of Koons’ work and how such analysis can be applied to the specific exhibition at Versailles. Here, Dorothea von Hantelman’s concept of the “social pact” between Koons’ work and the viewer will be discussed, as well as Tino Segal’s analysis, which argues that Koons’ work exists beyond or outside the realm of artistic critique. Such analyses interpret Koons’ work without the existence of the imposing historical context of Versailles. These interpretations of Koons’ work in some ways unravel and become conceptually shaken when historical setting of Versailles enters into the dialogue of the constructing an understanding of Koons’ work. For the exhibition, fifteen works were placed within the rooms of the State Apartments, one piece per room. The curators, Laurent Le Bon and Elena Geuna, worked alongside Koons to choose each piece in relation to the décor, architecture and function of each room. The curatorial approach as defined by the curators was to create a dialogue between the location and the object.4 For example, Moon (Light Blue) (Fig. 4), a large stainless steel cast of a circular Mylar balloon, was placed at the far end of Fig. 4 Koons, Jeff, Moon, 1995- the Hall of Mirrors. Like the 357 mirrors that line the walls of the 240 2000, François Pinault foot-long hall, the surface of the piece wondrously reflects the Foundation, Studio Jeff Koons. contents of the space surrounding it albeit in a slightly skewed and Image source. blue-tinted manner. The name, Moon, as the complimentary celestial body of the sun, makes a direct connection to Louis XIV’s nickname, the Sun King. Moon is also part of Koons’ Celebration collection, which features many child-like inflatable toys and balloons. Other pieces of the Celebration collection on view at Versailles included Balloon Dog and Hanging Heart. In this particular collection, in the words of the artist, the work “progressively shifts from the original inflatable toys to their metal casts, monumentalizing and immortalizing the joyfulness of these fragile objects.
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